Josiah Dali Keys CC’26 studied African American and African Diaspora studies. He was a fellow in the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Keys’ research examines the Black gay poetic tradition during the HIV/AIDS epidemic and argues that its formal and temporal innovations constitute a poetic practice that contested cultural logics of disposability. He served as co-chair of the Eric Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights and was a student representative on the Columbia College Committee on Instruction. Keys also held leadership positions with the Black Studies Organization, the Queer & Trans Student Advisory Board, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs as student coordinator. He was senior editorial assistant for the Black Studies Journal, SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, and intends to matriculate to a Ph.D. program in Black studies and English language and literature, with the aspiration of one day becoming a professor.